Gaming terminals, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing machines and the expectation of winning at each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting machines. Shrewd operators consequently strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines, features, and enhancements available because such machines attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the operator. Therefore, there is a continuing need for gaming machine manufacturers to continuously develop new games and improved gaming enhancements that will attract frequent play through enhanced entertainment value to the player.
One way to increase player participation and enthusiasm for a game or a family of games is by adding a “bonus feature” or “bonus game” that may be played in conjunction with a “basic” game. The bonus feature may comprise any type of game, either similar to or completely different from the basic game, which is entered upon the occurrence of a selected event or outcome in the basic game. Generally, bonus features provide a greater expectation of winning than the basic game and may also be accompanied with more attractive or unusual video displays and/or audio. Because the bonus feature concept offers tremendous advantages in player appeal and excitement relative to other known games, and because such games and features are attractive to both players and operators, there is a continuing need to develop gaming machines with new types of bonus games and features to satisfy the demands of players and operators.
Bonus games and features may additionally award players with “progressive jackpot” awards that are funded, at least in part, by a percentage of coin-in from the gaming machine or a plurality of participating gaming machines. In the gaming industry, a “progressive” game involves collecting coin-in data from participating gaming device(s) (e.g., slot machines), contributing a percentage of that coin-in data to a progressive jackpot amount, and awarding that jackpot amount to a player upon the occurrence of a certain jackpot-won event. A jackpot-won event typically occurs when a “progressive winning outcome” is achieved at a participating gaming device. If the gaming device is a slot machine, a progressive winning outcome may, for example, correspond to alignment of progressive jackpot reel symbols along a certain payline. The initial progressive jackpot is a predetermined minimum amount. That jackpot amount, however, progressively increases as players continue to play the gaming machine without winning the jackpot. Further, when several gaming machines are linked together such that several players at several gaming machines compete for the same jackpot, the jackpot progressively increases at a much faster rate, which leads to further player excitement. Typically, once the progressive jackpot is awarded, the jackpot amount is reset to the predetermined minimum amount.
In progressive games, there may be a single progressive jackpot or multiple progressive jackpots that may be awarded. Each progressive jackpot is typically awarded upon the occurrence of a single, qualifying jackpot-won event (e.g., a predetermined symbol combination on an active payline of the base game). In addition, the probability of achieving the qualifying jackpot-won event and, thus, winning a particular progressive jackpot is typically fixed prior to initiation of the wagering game, and remains fixed throughout game play.